July 14 – October 07, 2012

Cindy Shermanis recognized as one of the most important contemporary artists of the last 40 years and arguably the most influential artist working exclusively with photography. This retrospective traces the groundbreaking artist’s career from the mid-1970s to the present. Bringing together more than 170 key photographs from a variety of Sherman’s acclaimed bodies of work, the presentation constitutes the first overview of her career since 1997 in the United States. Sherman has served as her own model for more than 30 years, generating a range of guises and personas that are by turns amusing and disturbing, distasteful and affecting. The exhibition showcases the artist’s greatest achievements to date, from her early experiments as a student in Buffalo in the 1970s to her recent large-scale photographic murals.

Cindy Sherman, renowned American photographer and film director, is 58 today.

I am in such good company here – who doesn’t recognize a Marilyn Minter when they see one?

Visual AIDS utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists, and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over. Visual AIDS is the only contemporary arts organization fully committed to HIV prevention and AIDS awareness through producing and presenting visual art projects, while assisting artists living with HIV/AIDS.

There will be a Preview Party Friday, January 6 from 6 – 8 p.m. The Benefit Sale of postcard-sized art begins on Saturday, January 7th from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. and continues through Sunday, January 8th from Noon until 4 p.m.

Postcards from the Edge is an exhibit and benefit sale of over 1500 one-of-a-kind postcard-size works of art by established and emerging artists. All artworks at Postcards from the Edge benefit are exhibited anonymously. The works are signed on the back only and though viewers receive a list of all participating artists, they don’t know who created which piece until purchased.

Postcards from the Edge will be hosted at Cheim & Read from January 6-8, 2012

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Specially commissioned for SFMOMA, Kerry James Marshall’s monumental murals in the Haas Atrium show Mount Vernon and Monticello, the estates of American presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Although these cherished sites have been depicted countless times, Marshall’s paintings stand apart by incorporating images of the slaves who supported plantation life. At first glance, a number of optical tricks conceal them from view, but visitors who engage in the artist’s visual game will discover figures that are so often omitted from representations of American history.

I shot these photos on a recent visit to SFMOMA. The museum’s interior has the most interesting architectural vantage points that never cease to offer interesting photographic compositions.

Yesterday’s visit to SFMoMA was particularly rewarding. The Museum seemed much larger this time, perhaps it was because all of the galleries were open. The above video ‘Mother’ by Candice Breitz was incredible. For this video piece, Breitz edited film performances by Faye Dunaway, Diane Keaton, Shirley MacLaine, Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon, and Meryl Streep to create a revealing composite of the Hollywood cliché of the difficult mother. The video attached presents the work in a different format than was experienced yesterday. At the SFMoMA Breitz’s video monitors were arranged in a single slightly concave row. Nor is it the full length version, the clip above stops rather abruptly, before Shirley McLaine and Fay Dunaway’s performance comes into full stride.

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A powerful achievement that must have employed months of editing. Really quite intense and enjoyable stuff. Go to Candice Breitz, click on ‘work’, then ‘video’ to watch the the full length video in a better resolution and sound.

Mutant bodies, fictional bodies, animate architecture: these are among the provocations offered by Sensate, an exhibition that reflects recent debates about what bodies are and how they are met and mirrored by design.

Like this:

I gave the following pictures to my partner to mark an occasion this past February. After a snapping visit to the SFMoMA, I noticed much of the art I photographed could be interpreted as font. It should really be a no-brainer to decipher.